Literary Birthday – 25 August – Taslima Nasrin

I believe in absolute freedom of expression. Everyone has a right to offend and be offended.

Koranic teaching still insists that the sun moves around the earth. How can we advance when they teach things like that?

When I write, I don’t allow the fear of consequences to interfere with the writing process. I have in the past paid for my commitment to the truth and the way I live my life. I am prepared to pay more if I have to.

Religion is against women’s rights and women’s freedom. In all societies women are oppressed by all religions.

I don’t find any difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalists. I believe religion is the root, and from the root fundamentalism grows as a poisonous stem… I need to say that because some liberals always defend Islam and blame fundamentalists for creating problems. But Islam itself oppresses women. Islam itself doesn’t permit democracy and it violates human rights.

Taslima Nasrin is a Bangladeshi author and former physician who has lived in exile since 1994. From a literary profile as a poet in the late 1980s, she became famous by the end of the 20th century because of her feminist essays and novels that criticise religion. She is the author of Lajja.